XII. THE EVERLASTING COVENANT

expression occurs only once in the New Testament. The context in which it is found sheds clear light upon the entire subject we are studying. This is the familiar passage:

“Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Heb. 13:19, 20).

God is here presented as the God who quickens the dead, and the everlasting covenant is identified as that which was ratified in the blood of Jesus Christ and as that under which sins are forgiven and eternal life be stowed. The purpose of the covenant is declared by the words: “make you perfect in every good work to do His will”; and the power for doing this is indicated by the clause, “working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ.” The correspondence with God’s words to Abraham in Genesis 17:1 is complete. Abraham had long been a child of God by grace through faith, but he had yet to be made “perfect,” to “walk” before God, through God’s own power working in him.

The chief lesson from this portion of the Word of God to which we wish to call attention is that, while every believer in Jesus Christ is made, by regeneration of the

Holy Ghost, a child of God, and hence is perfect as to his standing in the family of God, there is yet the need of a work (and it may be a long work) of the Spirit of God in him, to make him “perfect in every good work to do His (God’s) will,” and to make him fruitful to the glory of God through Jesus Christ. And with that goes the further lesson that the work of God in us may be hindered by our unwillingness to accept the decree of death to our selves and our own wills, plans, and ways and to trust God completely for the doing of His own work in us and in His own way. Our own doings or “works” in the energy of the flesh, even though we may be thinking to accomplish results for God, may be simply hindering and delaying His working. Our part then is to deny our selves, thus laying our own doings in the grave, to take up our cross daily, thus experiencing crucifixion to the world and to self as a part of our every day life, and to follow Christ, which is to “walk” before God and be “perfect.” (Mat. 16: 24, 25; Lu. 9:23-26). This was the secret of Paul’s “walk” and of his fruitful service, as witnessed by the words “I by the law died to the law. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2: 19, 20). By the words “yet not I” Paul denied himself, thus fulfilling the Lord’s conditions as to discipleship.

There is much valuable information about the ever lasting covenant in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which we do not attempt to discuss in this present volume.10 We would only point out here that what made the covenant of Mount Sinai “old” was not its antiquity, but the fact that God spoke through Jeremiah of making “a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” And in Hebrew 8:7-13 this interesting fact is stated, namely that “in that He saith, A new covenant, He hath made the first old.”

The covenant of Mt. Sinai was the first which God made ‘with the house of Israel. The promise given through Jeremiah (Jer. 31:31-34) was simply a promise to establish with the house of Israel the ancient and ever lasting covenant which He had first given to Abraham, and concerning which He had said to him; “And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee for an everlasting covenant’’ (Gen. 17:7).

That covenant had stood unchanged and unchangeable (since God had given it by promise and not made it conditional on works of men) during all the period of the law; and under its terms all who believed in the God of

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were saved by grace through faith. There never was salvation for sinners on any other basis; and on the other hand there never was a sinner of whatever nation who came, like Ruth, to trust in the living God, that did not find salvation through His mercy. The “everlasting covenant” remained in force during the episode or “parenthesis” of the law, just as Abraham’s marriage relation with Sarah remained in force during his temporary conjugal relations with Hagar.

The everlasting covenant is mentioned in Psalm 105: 8-11, where we read: “Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for an everlasting covenant.” By this Scripture we learn that the land of Canaan was given to Israel, not under the covenant made at Mount Sinai, which covenant was immediately broken by them, but under the covenant of grace given to the fathers. This shows that that covenant was always in force. In fact God’s dealings with Israel all the way from Egypt to Canaan, were in grace and in fulfilment of His promise to the fathers. The blood of the lamb was grace, and so was the way through the Red Sea, and the Pillar of Cloud and Fire, and the Smitten Rock, and the manna, and the Serpent lifted up. God says that “the people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness”

10 See God’s Pilgrims $1.00, and God’s Apostle and High Priest 60c. Hamilton Bros., 120 Tremont St., Boston.

(Jer. 31: 2). But this is practically lost sight of in current teach ing, which generally holds that the people found only law there.

But the everlasting covenant had never been “established” as a covenant to “the house of Israel and house of Judah” until Jesus Christ, the Mediator and Surety there of, offered Himself as the Covenant-Victim (diathemenos, translated “testator” in Heb. 9: 16, 17), and ratified it by

His blood. By His death the everlasting covenant with its unspeakable benefits became effective to all the world. But, having been promised first to Israel, it must needs be proclaimed first to Israel. Hence the words of Peter: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”: and thereupon he preached to them repentance and the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, in His Name. (Acts 2:36-39).

And in this connection we see special significance in the concluding words of Peter’s address recorded in the next chapter of Acts, where he expressly mentioned the covenant God made with Abraham, and also the promises made through all the prophets from Samuel on. who never spake a word of setting up again the old broken covenant of Sinai, but always of a new order of things which Peter briefly describes by the comprehensive words “these days.” We quote Acts 3: 24-26: “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken have like wise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy Seed11 shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first”—i. e. first of the kindreds of earth— “God having raised up His Son Jesus sent Him to bless you, in turning away everyone of you from his iniquities.”

There can therefore be no question as to what covenant Peter was proclaiming, for it was that given to Abraham and his Seed; nor can there be any doubt as to the nature of the promised “blessing,” for it consisted in turning sinners away from their iniquities.

Moreover it was revealed both to Mary and to Zacharias at the very beginning of the dispensation, and was declared in their inspired utterances, that what was then at hand was the era of the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham. Thus Mary said:

“He bath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as 11 Singular number, meaning Christ, See Cal. 3:16, 19.

He spake to our fathers, to Abraham and to his Seed forever” (Luke 1: 52, 55).

And Zacharias said that God was about—

“To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He swore to our father Abraham” (Lu. 1 : 72, 73).

Thus the mother of Jesus, and the father of John His forerunner, were inspired to announce the approach of the era of blessing to all nations through the promised Seed of Abraham, and not, as some have mistakenly sup posed, the approach of the era of Israel’s earthly greatness. These two prophecies, with that of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias (Lu. 1: 13-17), are the first words of God breaking the long silence of four hundred years from Malachi. There can be no doubt that every word and act of God, beginning with the angel’s message to Zacharias, belong to this present era which is the era of grace to all the world through Abraham’s Seed. The “break” between the old dispensation and the new is a very wide one—over four hundred years. It occurs between the last word of Malachi and the first word of Matthew. Nevertheless some able commentators have failed to perceive it. and have consequently sought to locate a dispensational “break,” some at one place and some at another, subsequent to what is expressly called “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets” (Mk. 1: 1, 2).

The next mention by name of the “everlasting coven ant” is from the lips of David—which is very significant. The particular promises covenanted to Abraham were concerning the family, the blessing, and the inheritance. Nothing was said concerning the throne. That feature of the everlasting covenant was reserved to be disclosed in connection with David. For it is evident that the two pillars of the gospel-era are Abraham and David.

In the case of God’s purposes for the throne we have distinct foreshadowings in Saul and David, the former being the king according to the heart of man. as David was the king according to God’s own heart. Thus, King Saul was to God’s purpose for the throne what Ishmael was to His purposes for the family—nature’s best, which must be tested, and proved to be unsuited to God’s purposes, and be put out of the way ere God carries His will into effect.

The case of Saul and David not only foreshadows in a typical way the working out of God’s purpose concerning the throne of the universe, but it also teaches for the individual saint a similar lesson to that taught by Ishmael and Isaac. The lesson is that we are all ruled at first by our own

imperious wills, which are like King Saul, violent, erratic, impulsive, unstable, moody, sometimes giving way to gusts of temper, and sometimes displaying sentiment and religiousness. We must bring the dominion of self-rule to an end; we must dethrone Saul and make David King, that is to say, we must enthrone Christ in our hearts as Lord of all, before there can be any victory over our enemies or any peace within the realm of our own being.

The mention of the everlasting covenant by David is found in his “last words,” wherein he said: “Although my house be not so with God, yet hath He made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure” (2 Sam. 23:5).

David’s house was “not so with God,” that is, not what God required of His royal house; for the house of David ended in complete failure, after a period counted by God as fourteen generations. (Mat. 1:6-11). But God’s everlasting covenant is not affected in the least by the failure of those to whom it is given. Being dependent upon His faithfulness alone, it is sure to be fulfulled by Him. God gave His word to Abraham concerning his posterity and their inheritance, and confirmed it with an oath (see Heb. 6:17, 20). Likewise concerning David it is written: “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn unto David My servant, Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations” (Psa. 89:3, 4).

It is clear from the New Testament Scriptures that, as God’s promise to Abraham concerning the inheritance and the blessing was far greater than appeared by the record in Genesis, so His promise to David and his Seed concerning the throne is far greater than appeared by the Old Testament. But we do not pursue that part of the everlasting covenant, for Galatians is not concerned with the throne.

The next mention of the everlasting covenant is in Isaiah, where we have the words:

“Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David” (Isa. 55:3).

This prophecy is unmistakably a promise whereof the fulfilment belongs to this present gospel-era; and it is specially pertinent because it is a part of the same pas sage from which Paul quotes in the “allegory” of Galatians 4, where he applies the words, “Rejoice thou barren that bearest not” to the heavenly Jerusalem, to which the new covenant pertains. This confirms the truth that the blessing of the “everlasting covenant” given to

Abraham and his Seed and to David and his Seed are “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” preached to Jew and Gen tile alike during the present dispensation. Those blessings are, moreover, called “the sure mercies of David.”

But we do not inquire here into the significance of that expression.

The “everlasting covenant” is again mentioned by name in the chapter from which the Lord read and on which He based His address in the synagogue at Nazareth (Isaiah 61).

In Jeremiah 32:37-41, in a prophecy which speaks of the gathering of Israel out of all countries whither they have been driven, we read this promise:

“And they shall be My people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever for the good of them and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.”

The passage follows close upon the promise of the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34), to which we have already referred : and it shows that, being accepted of God on the ground of redemption, Israel will never depart from Him again.

The same promise in substance is found in Ezekiel 16: 60:

“Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and 1 will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.”

In Ezekiel 37, following the vision of the dry bones (which we believe is fulfilled in God’s spiritual Israel of this dispensation and will have a further fulfilment in the earthly nation hereafter), is a remarkable passage in which Christ is referred to as “David.” We quote:

“And David My servant shall be King over them; and they all shall have one Shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes to do them. * * And My servant David shall be their Prince forever. Moreover, 1 will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them” (Ezek. 37:24-28).

There is a marked correspondence between this passage and that in Hebrews 13: 19, 20, where God is called “the God of peace” and Christ is named “the great Shepherd of the sheep” and His blood is spoken of as “the blood of the everlasting covenant.” Especially we call attention to the words: “They shall also observe My statutes, and walk in My judgments to do them,” which declare what is ever the purpose of God in His people. To this we find the response in the great passage in Hebrews 13:20. 21, in the words: “Working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight,” which

means obedience to His Word.

From all the foregoing Scriptures we gather that the “everlasting covenant” in all its breadth, embracing God’s promises to both Abraham and David, is nothing less than the declaration, in the form of a Covenant which carries with it an obligation to fulfil all its terms, of God’s eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus concerning His own family— the “many sons” whom He is “bringing unto glory”; concerning the earth also, and the nations thereof, among whom the earthly Israel is to have the foremost place. Hence the purposes concerning Israel, which under the covenant of Mount Sinai were conditional upon their obedience, become unconditional under the everlasting covenant, which precedes the other and stands forever. For that covenant is represented by “Mount Zion which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever” (Psa. 125: 1).

Upon close examination of the foregoing Scriptures it will appear, we think, that so much of the everlasting covenant as was pledged to David— in other words that part of it which embraces the throne—is confined to God’s people of this dispensation. The blessings of eternal life, and a share in the inheritance, which appear in God’s promises to Abraham, will undoubtedly be the portion of the saved nation of Israel in the future. But, among the promises to “the house of Israel and house of Judah” in Jeremiah, there is no suggestion of sharing the throne. “The sure mercies of David,” which embrace the promise of reigning with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him (Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 2: 12), belong exclusively to the gospel of this dispensation. For there will be no opportunity to suffer with Christ in the age to come.

We can see in this a reason why the promises concerning the throne were separated from the other promises of the everlasting covenant, and were pledged to David’s Son, not to Abraham’s. For while all David’s seed are the seed of Abraham, not all Abraham’s seed are the seed of David. We can see in this also, why David is the first of the fathers to be mentioned by name in-the New Testament, and why Paul connects the gospel more prominently with David than with Abraham.

XIII. THE TWO SONS (Gal. 4:22).

It is evident that the two sons stand for two lines of posterity. Both these lines of descent proceeded from Abraham, the man of faith, yet between them there is a difference as great as that between bondage and liberty, between a nation of bondmen and a nation of freemen. Specifically, Ishmael stands for “Israel after the flesh” (1 Cor. 10: 18), the natural